


your least favorite letter

by tieriaerde



Category: Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware - Fandom
Genre: Autistic Tommy Coolatta, Character Study, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Not A Game AU, Not Beta Read, POV Second Person, Post-Canon, no reason i just like it, vaguely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 10:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25349458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tieriaerde/pseuds/tieriaerde
Summary: The house is quiet. The house is always quiet, and you know this.tommy coolatta on family, friends, and the intersections and differences between the two.-DO NOT INTERACT WITH MY FICS IF YOU CONSUME OR CREATE NSFW CONTENT OF HLVRAI
Relationships: Tommy Coolatta & Benrey, Tommy Coolatta & Everyone, Tommy Coolatta & Gordon Freeman
Comments: 1
Kudos: 65





	your least favorite letter

The house is quiet.

The house is always quiet, and you know this. You've never felt any need or want to change that. Mr. Freeman asked, once — he said, "Why don't you ever talk to your, uh, your dad? Mr. Coolatta? I don't want to be, uh, intrusive or anything like that, it's just that your house is... it's always so  _ quiet. _ I mean..."

Your eyes glow blue as you recall the memory, how you said back to him, "Wh-wh-why would I wanna... change that, Mr. Freeman? That's just how we, that's just how it is... here."

Mr. Freeman is the only one who's ever asked. He was worried about you, and you don't  _ like _ people worrying about you. It's not a lie, the thing you said. It really is just how your family works. He's worried about nothing, and you wish he would stop.

Benrey's never asked. You like that Benrey's never asked, even though he's your best friend. He knows not to worry, because he knows you're fine, or maybe he just doesn't care. He's mean like that, sometimes.

Maybe you like mean people, if they don't worry like Mr. Freeman does. He's too nice to you. He worries too much for you.

It's not like you don't know your family isn't normal. You didn't at first, not 'til you met the Science Team, but you do now.

You remember in perfect clarity the first time you realized what family means to everyone else. Mr. Freeman had invited everybody to his house for dinner — it was his birthday, he'd said, and he wanted to spend some time with friends.

You hate dinner with your dad. Dinner with your dad is awkward, and quiet, and stressful, because even when you remember everything you never seem to remember what's normal and what's not — like sitting with your knees up on the chair, like eating with your hands, like checking your phone at the table. Your dad was never angry or disappointed at you for doing those things, but every time he brought it up you felt, all of a sudden, like you were sinking. 

So you don't really eat meals with him anymore.

Dinner at Mr. Freeman's house was different, though. You could hear the difference when you walked in — you heard it in the kitchen fan, in Mr. Freeman's wheezing laughter, in the blaring sounds of Mötley Crüe from Dr. Bubby's phone, in Dr. Coomer's cheerful call of "Hello, Tommy!", in Joshua's footsteps as he stomped over to greet you. And you could feel the difference in the lightness of your heart when you put your feet up on the chair and no one said anything, when you only ate a few of the things that Mr. Freeman had cooked and Benrey silently started handing you those things off of his plate so you could have more, when even after you'd all run out of energy and the apartment fell silent you still felt as warm as you had at the start of the night.

The apartment was quiet, but you didn't feel like you were sinking.

**Author's Note:**

> tommy coolatta isn't human but he exudes second generation immigrant vibes. you know? yes this fic is entirely me projecting on him. i'll die on the hill of picky eater tommy. sorry-but-not-really that this is so short, i've written and am about to post shorter things though. also shoutout to my friend danny adamantorb for making the joke that ended up becoming the title of this fanfic (the letter is G.)  
> -  
> send me hate mail  
> tumblr: tieriakin  
> twitter: tieriakin


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